The writing seemed to be on the wall for Windows Mobile. Ugly, unloved and hopelessly out of date compared to its more intuitive models, not many expected much from its successor. Microsoft surprised us all with Windows Phone 7 Series, a verbosely titled reboot of the entire series. Early praise flooded in, but since its unveiling at Mobile World Congress in January a number of worrying cracks in its glossy veneer are starting to appear. So here they are, exposed for you all.

The preamble: My cult and contentious reviews’ system. Designed as a time saver to highlight the potential deal breakers in a product before you commit to reading lengthy reviews on your favourites sites and/or magazines. For a more detailed description please read: THE RULES

Just the Bad Points Review: Windows Phone 7

No multi-tasking at launch (Microsoft confirms it could be added in future)

No expandable storage (Microsoft hardware guidelines forbid it)

No copy and paste at launch (yes, really!)

No Adobe Flash support at launch

No backwards compatibility with Windows Mobile (potentially a good point, long term)

Microsoft’s high minimum specifications for Series 7 handsets suggest there won’t be many affordable options from day one or design variants